Category Archives: Jessie’s Stories

Wow there are only 37 sleeps until Christmas but until today it has felt like the middle of winter with our daily temperature being way under 20C (68F)! This blog is written to celebrate the arrival of summer plus an early pressie just for me!

It has taken me 11 months to shred my old scritching post back to bare wood and to celebrate this momentous occasion huMum took advantage of the sale at our local Petstock shop and purchased a brand new one! I hesitate to suggest that this was more a present for huMum than it was for me as I had given up trying to clean and sharpen my claws on the old post and taken to the carpet with the lesson being… flying missiles in the shape of anything that is close to huMum’s hand will arrive suddenly and scarily right where I’m scritching (she has been practicing her cricket bowling ready for the 1st Ashes test which is to start on Thursday *excited ears*).

Out with the old and in with the new. The new has a 5 gold stars stamp of approval! My special smell test said delicious (huMum had sprayed it with catnip) and a few tentative scritches proved that it has a respectable coverage of wool. I’m so pleased that it is the same colour as the old one… cream so will be a purrfect contrast to my lush, shiny black panfur.

Oops um *embarrassed ears*. “Are you giggling at me huMum?” I’m sure I put just the right amount of spring in my paws for a purrfect takeoff and landing? How come I missed and landed so ungracefully back on the floor? What? “Are you telling me it is 6cm (2.4 inches) taller than our old post?” Takes step back and makes purrfect landing on second attempt *proud ears*. Oh I like that I’m now even closer to the nom preparation area.

Today huMum and I celebrated the arrival of the summer and a 29C (84F) maximum temperature with a garden clean up. This involved huMum grunting and groaning as she weeded our pavers and garden beds… she filled the huge green wheelie bin to the brim *impressed ears* while I supervised from the shade of whichever camellia tree she was closest too. We are worried about our new lemon tree. Its madly growing but yet to flower or fruit (second season) also two Pittosporum have gone to heaven and need replacing. Our garden shop to purchase list is very long as it includes sugar cane mulch, citrus tree and camellia food plus a few of the lovely Princess Lavenders which I think will make purrfect nests for moi. Enough said as huMum needs to bathe her weary body and put ointment on her sunburnt nose and all the rose scritch wounds. I’ve very *pleased ears* as something other than me likes to scritch her!

Nap time, bye-bye for now!

Purrfect results – sunset today in our garden! (Click to bigify)

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Winter is two days away in Melbourne but I can’t complain as we have had a very mild, dry autumn. This mild weather has enabled me to continue my “war against vermin”, in particular, mice and rats. *Proud Ears* So since 30th November, 2012 we have successfully bought huMum 55 mice and 3 gianormous rats. You may not believe me but I assure you this total is correct as I’ve been noting every one of them in my “kill” diary.

Think this was number 20?Right click on picture for larger image

Tonight winter arrived two days early and with a vengeance with a low of 9C = 48F and a high of only 16C = 60F. Did I mention it was raining too?

I love, love summer rain but not this chilly winter rain. In summer I’m happy to patrol, hunt and stroll around my neighbourhood in the rain, with the occasional visit home for a quick invigorating towel rub.

Last year I was diagnosed with a smidgeon of arthritis but after treatment I was all better and huMum swore she would never put me through the indignities of having to see Jenny Vet every week as it was so very traumatic for me. This year we have decided to treat my arthrisits with glucosomine and fish oil. The third part of the treatment is for me to stay inside our warm home for long periods each day/night. No arguments from me with this as even I know being cold means being sore and stiff.

We do have a MAJOR problem … there is no garden inside the house for me to use as my potty. For the last week huMum has been testing a litter tray in the laundry but I thought it was a new bed and now spend several hours a day sleeping there. I haven’t used a litter tray since I found my forever home with huMum and she kept me locked in for 3 weeks while I recovered from my little girls operation. Even then I only deigned to use it once a day!

Yes I must admit – I’m a once a day girl and love visiting the neighbours house to make those deposits. Thankfully they have a rather wild back garden so I am well camouflaged! Hehehe

Tonight was a problem for me … it was raining that bitter cold rain we see in Melbourne in winter. There was a brief pause at about 10.30am and I made a dash for what I hoped would be dry soil under one of the Camellia Trees … blawky mud caught in my nails but I persisted and finally got down to some dry soil and did my business and rushed back to huMum standing at the door worrying about me. She let me clean my toenails on my scratching pole and then gave me the most delicious towel rub … I tell you I was purring like a steam train.

NOTE: HuMum would like some suggestions on how she might convince me that the litter tray is not a new bed? As our winter deepens so too will my sore stiff bones and she is worried that I will remain determined to go potty in the rain and cold. Any ideas would be gratefully received – but please remember I am a wild panfur huntress who loves the outside world!

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This is the hardest post I have ever had to write. A few simple words and my world came tumbling down around me:

Now I have some sad news. TeddyBear, my baby, went OTRB this (1-3-13) at 10:30 am. He got out last night. We didn’t find him all night. I was in and out looking for him. I saw him this morning coming up the path but he didn’t look right so took him to the vet. He had extensive injuries and the Vet said it looked like he could have been hit by a car … treatment of his injuries may be too much for Teddy to endure and, then said, it probably wouldn’t do him any good. So I made the painful decision to ease his suffering and let him go. Yours sincerely TeddyBear’s Mom

My heartfelt condolences to Teddy’s Mom and his human Sissy, please know I’m just a DM or email away … can you feel the warmth of our hugs?

My heart is broken and huMum is not much better. I’m wiping her eyes while I dictate to her as she can’t see the screen.

So instead of continuing to portray our grief I’m going to remember the wonderful times I’ve had with my #bestie, @toughteddybear a true gentleman of Twitter. Teddy would want us to celebrate his life not mourn it.

I met him just 28 months ago when he was still a kitten in my eyes but he had the wisdom of a 100 year old elephant. Think he was number 38 on my list of followers! Through him I met his girlfuriend, @LilyLuWhoT and they got me involved in the lives of so many twitter anipals.

Teddy proposing to Lily — awwwe

Hey #bestie I know you are reading this – do you remember when you bashfully *whispered* to me that you wanted to ask Lily to be your wife? Oh we had so much fun preparing your proposal but I had to sit biting my nails in background! Think I let out the loudest full-blooded YEOWL when she said yes.

Just one of Teddy’s gifts to Lily to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas, 2011

Then came your monster task of preparing a gift every day of the 12 days of Christmas and, again, I was like a voyeur seeing Lily’s delight when each day you gave her a new present.

With you and Lily safely engaged our anipal furiends began to accept that you and I were just #besties. They understood that a girl and boy cat could have a platonic relationship. Lily became my close girl furiend and she understood that when she was asleep and you had the zoomies (around your 2:00 am) we’d often meet and chase each other around twitter and our homes and gardens. Oh the delicious food we nommed in each other’s kitchens … hehehe remember the cream fight?

Teddy’s 1st Birthday

On March 10, 2011 Lily organized your 1st Birthday in Pawty in Puerto Rico and you were crowned King for a day.

No more air guitar for Teddy!

And you received a guitar as a present!

SuperTeddy

Time marched on but each time we met it was just pure joy. Remember your happiness when you realised you were #SuperTeddy?

The Bridal Party

Toast to the Bride and Groom

Finally in the beginning of October, 2012 I was so very proud to stand beside you as your #BestCat when you eloped with Lily during the Love Boat’s visit to Bermuda.

These are just a few memories of my time with TeddyBear … I’m inviting you to use the comments page of this blog to remind Teddy, his Mom, his human Sissy and beautiful wife, Lily, of your special time with this wonderful furiend of ours.

Dedicated to TeddyBear’s Mom and his human Sissy:

When I am gone, release me. Let me go
I have so many things to see and do.
You mustn’t tie yourself to me with tears.
Be happy that we had so many beautiful years.
I gave to you my love. You can only guess
How much you gave to me in happiness.
I thank you for the love you each have shown,
But now it’s time I travelled on alone.
So grieve a while for me, if grieve you must.
Then let your grief be comforted by trust.
It’s only for a while that we must part,
So bless the memories within your heart.
I won’t be far away, for life goes on.
So if you need me, call and I will come.
Though you can’t see or touch me, I’ll be near.
And if you listen with your heart,
You’ll hear all my love around you soft and clear.
And then, when you must come this way alone,
I’ll greet you with a smile and say welcome home…
By Anonymous

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I did, I did! To be honest I didn’t actually kill it but I was indirectly responsible for its temporary death!

Think I’ve told you that it is mouse season in Melbourne. Every late Spring, early Summer they seem to appear from nowhere. If you are not aware, then I’m here to tell you, that mice breed like “rabbits”. I think they practice all winter long and when the jacaranda blossom appears so do the baby mice. Being a very noble panfur I let them grow until they are at least 5cm long (not including their tails) before I go on safari.

So huMum has been getting a lot of exercise this week as I have produced a mouse a night (except Tuesday). As she is only too familiar with the peculiar miaow I make when my mouth is full, the chase is on before I have a chance to proudly display my catch. To my chagrin I was twice tricked into giving up my live squeaking prey; the third I got bored with and left him in kitchen (see HERE) to be buried by huMum in the green wheelie bin.

So what happed to the fourth mouse? I let huMum chase me up and down the hallway, in and out the study, bedroom, bathroom and even in and out of the “little girl’s room” (whatever that means). For goodness sake I wish humans would call a spade a shovel and their litter tray a toilet or if they are Australian a “dunny” or the “boghole”! I digress. Where were we? Ah that’s right in the middle of the chase. After at least 10 hours oops minutes, I made the mistake of ducking out my cat door and huMum shut the door from the laundry to passage and *wail* I couldn’t get back into the house.

She turned on the garden lights to watch what I got up to with my “mouthful” of mouse but was distracted by the telephone. The next time she checked I was sitting with *innocent ears* at the patio doors paw pointing at my empty mouth (just like my all-time hero “Simon’s Cat”) and miaowing to be let in. Chuckling to myself here as I know I’m annoying the dickens out of you with all this waffling on and never, seemingly, to get to the point of my story. That is why its called a yarn or is that yawn?

The next day Sandy, our delightful cleaning lady, was busily vacuuming and got to the laundry when, from my the top of the garage roof, I heard a huge THWACK and the stereo (on which Pink had been playing) went off as did the vacuum. As Sandy and huMum were muttering a lot I had to come down from my perch to check out what was going on.

Yes *paw punches the air* the vacuum was lying in pieces in the middle of the hall and huMum was telling Sandy “something must have blown it up?”.

I don’t think huMum was very pleased as she had to reset the house power trip-switch and reboot the computer, then carry the dead vacuum to her car. I waved her goodbye from the living room window as she drove out, presumably to the vacuum graveyard

She reappeared about two hours later and I was ever so pleased as it was nearly dinner time. One look at her face told me that I was in deep doo doo yet again and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why. Worse still the dreaded vacuum was back! There is nothing more dire than huMum in a bad mood so I tried to appease her with much rubbing of her legs, gentle mews and loud purrs but instead of a pat and a scritch I got sent to the naughty chair! Once ensconced she told me that the vacuum repair man charged her $55 to repair the blown fuse and showed her the cause. Yes! You guessed it, my fourth mouse!

Unbeknownst to huMum, while she was gossiping on the phone the previous night I’d bought the fourth mouse back through my cat door into the laundry but as the door to the passage was so rudely closed I had dropped him and, being a very smart mouse, he’d had taken up residence under the washing machine. Sandy being a very thorough housekeeper had directed the vacuum right to his new home and swooped him up! TWACK!

To all you vacuum fearing cats out there, you now know there is a way to slay them but be prepared for the consequences. HuMum did not get over her sooky mood for at least two hours!

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*whispers* we wrote this story months ago but it went missing … *scratching ears* #PhantomStoryThief

Do you remember I wrote about huMum telling me on our first day together that my Uncle would build steps to help me climb our 9 foot fence? It took him ages to get it done as he always had other chores to do for huMum and I had proved to them that I was very capable of scaling the fence without their help.

About 10 days after arriving at my forever home, I gave huMum a big heartache when I went out to explore my new neighbourhood. I left at 7:00 am, just after breakfast, and didn’t return until 8:00 pm! Please don’t tell huMum that I have admitted to being just a tad lost. I could hear her calling me but I kept being distracted by all the birds, finding possum nests, watching the kids play Aussie rules football in the park and, best of all, climbing a tree and teasing the dog in a garden about half a kilometre away, plus locating some really great places for cat naps. Eventually, as I was so hungry, I had to go home and, I must admit, it was a great relief to see our roof from my perch in yet another tree. Talk about a fuss when I pushed through my cat-flap and miaowed “I’m home!” HuMum didn’t know whether to cry and cuddle or be stern and lecture. It ended up being a mixture. It also was my first time on the naughty chair, but that is another story.

I did learn a big lesson, huMum was happy for me to explore but if I heard her call “Jessie” then I knew it was time to go home. We made a pact that I’d never worry her like that again!

I also learned that she was not too impressed with me sitting on the roof of our neighbour’s house and this confused me as she was happy for me to sit on our roof. So what if their roof is double the height of our roof, right? Wrong, I could see huMum looking out the kitchen window, then rushing to the patio doors screaming out my name with her hand over her mouth and terror in her eyes. Oh dear, I was in deep doo doo! It only took me about two minutes to get home but I think I was responsible for her looking so very pale. Another hour on the naughty chair and another lesson learned. I still regularly visit that tall roof but I make sure huMum is safely tucked up, snug as a bug, in bed.

Stair Construction

In the summer of early 2006, huMum and Uncle disappeared in her car so, as is my practice, I patiently waited at the front window for their return. Finally they got home and there was so much new gear in the hatch for me to investigate. A 2×10 plank of wood, hammer, nails, drill, saw, brackets, tape measure – the garage and courtyard were full of all this mannish equipment!

They measured the long plank of pine-smelling wood and, using the saw, cut it into 4 bits. I heard huMum nagging my Uncle, “Make sure they are big enough for her to sit on!” I felt a bit sorry for him because she was getting in his way and he was muttering under his breath. Eventually he told her to go and make them a ‘cuppa’. Now it was my turn to help him so I organised all his zinc nails in a row and then pushed them over to him as they were needed. (Not really, but it does make the story more entertaining.) Truth be told, I spent most of my time up on the roof looking down because the loud hammering and sawing noises were scary.

You will have to use your imagination – we have the ugly side of the fence facing our courtyard, i.e. the side with the horizontal beams. Although huMum has made it look beautiful with jasmine, azaleas and camellias, it meant the fence was perfect for the assembly of my stairs as it gave Uncle a place to attach each step. He not only nailed the steps to the horizontal fence beams but, to brace them, he put three brackets under each step so I could land heavily without fear that they would fall off. His tour de force was the top step which is bigger than the others and allows me to sun bake and peep through the jasmine covered lattice. It is my favourite outdoor niche as it smells wonderful in summer; I get to spy on the neighbours and hide from huMum all at the same time.

“No! Why should I get off the roof onto those steps?” I miaowed when huMum tried to get me to test the stairs. “I’m happy up here, thank you very much. Oh is that cheese I smell.” I try to reach down from the top of the lattice where I’m precariously balancing but huMum has put it just out of my reach so I jump down onto the top step. “Wow this is so very excellent!” They make me go up and down my stairs three times just to prove the steps will carry my weight! How exciting, no more climbing the tall fence. I have the best Uncle and huMum a cat could have, so I gave them lots of nudges and leg rubs to show my gratitude.

For your information I can now, at full speed, make it from the kitchen, via dining room, the passage and the cat-flap in the laundry, to the roof in 5 seconds!”

Nap time, bye-bye for now!

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Success is MINE! Summer is only two days old and I have managed to catch and slay a mouse a night (plus one last week when it was still Spring), two geckos and a worthless moth. I truly am the great panfur huntress.

To remind you of my exploits I redirect you back to an earlier blog Mice/Rats Beware! which I hope gives you a giggle and explains my life in suburban Melbourne a little.

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I understand that we all have to go OTRB at some stage but just wish it didn’t hurt our hearts so much when others precede us.

This week has been very stressful as the battle to save Lennox in Ireland was sadly lost and then, just a few hours later, we learned that our dear furiend, @DevonScootle, said goodbye to her sibling’s @TourettesTabby2 and @DOOMandNemisis and their Staff and went to join her sisfur @MilliesSpektre OTRB.

Like many anipals on Twitter we just sat looking at our monitors with leaky eyes and dribbly noses. The heartache wasn’t really ours but we shared it with Scoots’ family and, in doing so, we hope it helped fill the void she has left in their lives. We are very happy to learn that Mona, @Kernow_Kitteh, has just joined the Colony and think she will give Mimsey, Doom and Nemesis a run for their money. Also, we hope she is wise to sleight-of-paws which might be visited on her by Millie and Scoots!

However at times like these, huMum worries as she knows that my time with her may be short. I know I’m only 10 but I’ve used up so many of my lives fighting breast cancer and now the dreaded arthritis. I still try to act all kittenish and pretend to be interested in the zoomy red dot from the new laser-pen sent to us by @ickle_tikkypoo‘s Dad, but I’m spending more and more of my time just curled up in a ball on the sofa.

*Big sighs* … squishing around and turning back on room now as it is …

Naptime, bye-bye for now!

POST SCRIPT
For those who are interested in my treatment and that suggested by @mariodacat please read Comments below … also here is the link for information about Pentosan 100 which we highly recommend